The Daily Mail has at times been accused of having a BBC-bashing agenda (not by Monkey though, oh no), but it seems they have uncovered a bit of a scoop on the corporation after a university academic made a claim that one of its shows is spreading “covert racial stereotypes”. And where is this taking place? You guessed it, Gardeners’ Question Time, where else? The Mail reports that Dr Ben Pitcher, a senior lecturer of sociology at the University of Westminster, believes the Radio 4 panel show is “saturated” with racial language. Pitcher, speaking on another programme on the station, said: “Gardeners’ Question Time is not the most controversial show on Radio 4, yet it is layered with, saturated with, racial meanings. The context here is nationalism. The rise of racist and fascist parties across Europe.” A bit lost? A BBC spokeman cleared things up, saying: “The passing mention of Gardeners’ Question Time was part of a broader discussion about language and race … the comment simply reflected the programme’s use of accepted gardening and horticultural terminology.” Ah. The Mail also printed “examples” of terms used in the show that could be perceived (‘by some’, it hastens to add) as potentially racist. These included: soil, blackfly, spade and … rhodochiton volubilis.